About

Windward School is dedicated to producing well-balanced, creative individuals prepared to take on the ever-changing challenges of our world. Our students explore their multiple interests in a dynamic and academically rigorous environment while growing within a nurturing community with the guidance of passionate faculty and supportive classmates.

At the forefront of educational models and practices, Windward School strives to innovate and offer students educational opportunities that are unique, engaging, and relevant to life in the 21st century.

Programs

Fundamental to the Windward School philosophy is the belief that secondary education must engage more than the mind alone. Windward’s comprehensive and rigorous course of study is complemented by opportunities to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular experiences that foster further growth and development.

The School hopes its graduates will go forth from Windward with a strong sense of personal integrity, self-confidence, and pride in their particular talents, inspired by learning, and prepared for college and for life in the 21st century.

Innovation

Windward was founded as a school in which innovation would, by design, always be front and center. The pursuit and implementation of new ideas has been a hallmark of the school for more than four decades, resulting in a relentless search for new and better ideas that have made Windward into a leading independent school and a model for academic progress.

Community

Partnerships are at the heart of Windward School, whether among alumni members of the Windward Network, active volunteers of the Parent Guild, or civic organizations in our neighborhood of Mar Vista.

Windward strives to create a welcoming, inclusive environment that encourages participation in the life of the school while also offering opportunity for meaningful involvement and interaction with local friends and groups.

Giving

Since its founding more than four decades ago, Windward has continued to develop and prosper thanks to those community members, volunteers, foundations, and other friends who have given generously to ensure the continuous advancement of the school.

Whether giving of time or talent, there are many ways to make a difference in support of Windward’s students and ensure the future growth of our learning community.

Windward Robotics Continues Strong League Play

11/6/2018

On Saturday, Nov. 3, the Windward Omnicats brought their five teams to Sultana High in Hesperia to compete in the second of three league tournaments. On balance, the team fared well, maintaining or improving upon their previous rankings. The Omnicats are currently poised to bring up to three teams to the championship on December 15.

The five teams, named with cat puns to reflect the Windward mascot, all had slightly different experiences. Team 5871a—GenericCatPun—struggled mightily at the last tournament due to unforeseen motor issues and lift problems. They came into this match with the same design, but with some untested claw elements. The team’s robot is a "cap scorer," which seeks to lift caps from the ground with its six-bar system and place them on high or low pegs to secure points. In addition, the team’s "Westcoast drive" proved more than capable of climbing the platforms at the end of the match. The team ultimately made good on their goals, scoring a cap or two during match play. However, their process proved slow as much of the fine tuning is a manual, driver intensive affair. They ended the day with the same ranking as before, a disappointing 29th out of 32. In order to have a chance at selection for the championship, the team will need to make speed and precision improvements on their process and really show off at the last tournament.

Team 5871b—CareLess Whisker—showed up with only one team member, Emma K. '19. Coming into the tournament, the team had a ranking of 22 and was looking to make significant gains. This team, like GenericCatPun, has an expanding lift system and claw designed to place caps, and they are capable of climbing. Emma drove the team’s bot each round and borrowed a student from other teams to coach during each match. With a bit of alliance luck and a tremendous amount of consistent skill, Emma made gains and improved on processes. Although she only scored a high-cap once or twice over the course of the day, her consistent work elevated the team from 22nd to 11th place - well within the top half!

Team5871c—OcelottaProblems!— is the undisputed team to be beat. They brought an improved robot that can shoot and score all flags, as well as turn caps and climb. In addition, their improved autonomous code outscored every other team. The team had a perfect record during the day, bringing their overall win-loss record to 15-1, just shy of the first place spot by the slimmest of margins. Their story during the day was one of trading places back and forth with the top ranked team.

Team5871F—Clawshank Redemption—came to the tournament with a massively changed bot. They replaced their chief scoring mechanism with one based on the OcelottaProblems! Design. Early match play did not go in their favor due to some driver miscalculations, but by the end of the day, Clawshank was dominating. They ended the day at 5th.

Finally, Team 5871G—Purrrrrrrgatory (six r’s, one for each team member)—started the tournament with some big challenges. Namely, the complex cascade lift and new drivetrain were too much to complete in time. A decision was made this last Thursday to retrofit the completed new drivetrain with the old flipper scoring mechanism. Despite this setback and a robot not quite finished at the start of match play, the team did reasonably well, holding on to their mid twenties rank by end of day. Much like GenericCatPun, this team will need to bring out their best on December 1 to have a shot at the championship tournament.

All teams represented Windward exceedingly well. Our students are performing better in these VEX tournaments than we ever have before - we look forward to them ending League Play with great placement and likely tournament victories!